Mars 2117 in VR

Traveling to the galaxy and discovering the universe has always been of special interest for humanity. It is interesting to see, how different companies combine the topic of space travel and Virtual Reality. There are companies who work on using VR as a substitute for real space travel, whereas others apply VR as a tool to enhance imagination of how real travel to space could look like. More than half a year ago, we wrote about Space travel with VR and how the startup SpaceVR works on giving everyone the opportunity to experience the universe through VR. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) have a completely different approach to that topic. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who rules the emirate, presented the project “Mars 2117” at the World Government Summit in Dubai. Within the next 100 years, the UAE intend to build the first city on Mars. Showing Mars 2117 in VR provided the visitors of the summit with a sneak-peek of the project. Computer-generated images were displayed with HMDs to give the visitors an idea of how the city on Mars could look like.

Visitors at the World Government Summit in Dubai experiencing Mars 2117 in VR. Photo: Arjun Kharpal/CNBC

Julia discovered her interest in the field of eTourism during her master program at UoAS Salzbug. She is fascinated how fast technology develops and finds its way to tourism. Julia wrote her master thesis on the topic of "Virtual Reality as a tool to trigger emotions in tourism marketing" and investigated the impact of VR with subjective as well as objective measurements.

About Julia Beck

Julia discovered her interest in the field of eTourism during her master program at UoAS Salzbug. She is fascinated how fast technology develops and finds its way to tourism. Julia wrote her master thesis on the topic of "Virtual Reality as a tool to trigger emotions in tourism marketing" and investigated the impact of VR with subjective as well as objective measurements.